Welcome to Trouble Free Pool

We would like to welcome you to TFP, the webs leading Pool related website. We invite you to please Register to create a new account. Doing this will give you full access to the forums, where you will be able to receive personalized advice concerning your pool. We hope to see you soon!

Replace Pump & Filter??

So...not sure where to start. I bought a house with a pool about 6 months ago and only recently opened it. I have had trouble getting the water clear - appears cloudy/murky etc. There was algae and I shocked it. It is now maintaining a chlorine level of 4 but still cloudy. Turns out the CYA level is high at 100. Thinking this is due to the shock I used which has the conditioner in it. In addition to all of this I am getting next to ZERO suction through the skimmer and hardly any return through the jets. I had someone out to look at the pool and he is recommending I replace the pump and filter and the plumbing. The 2" PVC goes down to 1.5" and then back to 2" which is causing the return issue. He says the cartridge filter is way undersized for my pool. All of this is a little overwhelming and I am not sure where to start...

1. Do I drain half the pool and add back water to fix the high CYA issue? This was the recommendation I received from a friend who had a similar issue.
2. Do I floc the water to see if I can knock down the cloudiness and vacuum it up - although this will be tough with limited suction...right?
3. Do I just bite the bullet and replace the equipment now? Knowing that I will have to do it in the near term regardless of what happens this year.
4. If so...what type of unit should I buy? And the potential cost?

Just looking for some advice if any of you have gone through this. Any help would be appreciated!

****I am reading the forum tutorial on how to post pictures - so hopefully there will be pictures below

Re: Replace Pump & Filter??

Hi jordaanderson....I am surprised nobody has responded to you. I would suggest looking up the capacity of that filter. Just by looking at it, it appears itsy bitsy for a 30,000 gallon pool. I have same size and I have a Pentair CCP420.

When my filters get dirty or high up in PSI...my pressure is greatly reduced.

Your CYA shouldn't be impacting your flow...but I will be the first to admit I am a BIGTIME amateur.

Reduce CYA by replacing water. Are you chlorine or SWG? If you use chlorine pucks, you will continually increase your CYA. The more CYA, the more chlorine needed.

Re: Replace Pump & Filter??

Thank you for your reply.

I think I violated a forum rule and failed to keep my post/question simple. I was frustrated and had a lot of things I was wanting to address. I have since had a pool company out and we are replacing the filter. We did confirm the pump is working fine. In addition I am draining the pool now to get my CYA levels back to normal. Thanks again for your suggestions!

Re: Replace Pump & Filter??

i would upsize your filter first and see how the flow is. last step would be the pump. i would also cut out that piping at the intake and replace with 2" at the same time since that's a low cost item.

people like the variable speed pumps, but i don't see the justification for the increase in costs. a simple dual speed pump will last longer and you will still get the benefits of being able to run the pump at a lower RPM. variable has the bells and whistles, but you aren't changing the speeds constantly anyway, you are going to settle at a speed and leave it. lot more things to break on a variable.

the issue is most likely the filter. the pump is probably fine. run that pump till its dead and then replace.

Re: Replace Pump & Filter??

Thank you all. Getting a new filter installed today that should be the longterm fix. Appreciate the advice!

Right now my chems are as such:
FC 0
Alk 200
ph 7.8
CYA 150 - despite having just drained more than a third of the pool and adding fresh water to try and lower the CYA. UGH!!!

***This is just using a test strip as I should be getting my TF100 today. Although I will be in Denver for the next 3 days. Hopefully my swamp doesn't get worse while I am gone. Thinking I will just add 3 gallons of Clorox as that might help a little until I can return and start my SLAM???